The government is preparing to announce provincial chiefs on Wednesday. The government had scheduled a Cabinet meeting for Tuesday afternoon to announce temporary provincial capitals and provincial chiefs but the meeting was not convened citing need for additional discussions.
The Cabinet meeting later today will now announce temporary provincial capitals and provincial chiefs, according to a Baluwatar source. Five provincial chiefs will now be appointed on recommendation of Nepali Congress (NC) and that of Province 2 and Province 5 will be recommended by Madhes-based parties Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP). The two parties have yet to recommend any name.
Govinda Subba will be chief of Province 1, Anuradha Koirala Province 3, Baburam Kunwar Province 4, Durga Keshar Khanal Province 6 and Mohan Raj Malla Province 7, according to the source. "There can, however, be some last-minute changes in these names," the source added.
Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba had made efforts to appoint provincial chiefs through consensus among five national parties. He had proposed that NC, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) should recommend chiefs for two provinces each, and FSFN and RJP jointly propose a chief for one province.
PM Deuba is now preparing to appoint five provincial chiefs on recommendation of NC, and one each from FSFN and RJP after the left alliance of UML and Maoist Center rejected the proposal.
The Cabinet meeting on Wednesday will also select the places where the first provincial assembly meetings will be convened. The government is preparing to announce that the first provincial assembly meeting of Province 1 will be convened in Biratnagar, Province 2 in Janakpur, Province 3 in Lalitpur, Province 4 in Pokhara, Province 5 in Butwal, Province 6 in Surkhet and Province 7 in Dhangadi, according to the Baluwatar source.
